Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Barracuda (1978)

Name an aquatic life form
with a fearsome reputation, and chances are the critter got a starring role in
a schlocky horror movie after Jaws
(1975) revealed there was big money to be made from soggy shockers. Alligators,
killer whales, octopi, and piranhas all got the big-screen treatment, and—thanks
to this stinker—so did the sharp-toothed barracuda. Yet while most Jaws rip-offs concentrate on scenes of
people getting eaten while submerged, Barracuda
is actually a conspiracy movie that happens to feature a handful of watery
deaths. However, if that description gives the impression that Barracuda rises above its brethren,
perish the thought—chances are the reason this flick spends most of its time on
dry land is that the producers didn’t have enough cash to fulfill the promise
of their movie’s title. Set in a generic American beach town, the picture kicks
off with the usual tropes: Mysterious deaths lead an investigator to put the
blame on a pack of barracudas, blah-blah-blah. Thereafter, the intrepid leading
man discovers the real villain is the owner of a chemical plant whose
industrial dumping has driven local fish crazy. Had this movie been executed
with any humor or style, the basic plot elements could have cohered into
something moderately amusing. Alas, the writing/producing/directing duo of
Wayne Crawford and Harry Kerwin fill their movie with dull scenes of people
standing around talking, a narrative shortcoming exacerbated by amateurish acting
and bargain-basement production values. Extending his reach in front of the
camera, Crawford cast himself in the lead as a marine biologist who solves the
story’s mystery—while romancing pretty sheriff’s daughter Liza (Roberta
Leighton), of course—and the biggest “name” in the cast is Bert Freed, the
prolific but undistinguished character actor who plays the villain. All of this
narrative sludge is accompanied by a disco-synth score that sounds like a pale
imitation of similar work by Giorgio Moroder, so even the movie’s music is a
rip-off.